This application is related to U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 15/416,234, entitled “Energy Harvesting Systems For Providing Autonomous Electrical Power To Vehicles And Electrically-Powered Devices In Vehicles,” which was filed on Jan. 26, 2017, a same day as this application, and the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
1. Field of the Disclosed Embodiments
This disclosure is directed to a unique method for forming a set of structural features on an outer surface of a body structure of a vehicle, the structural features combining to implement an aesthetically neutral, or aesthetically pleasing, energy harvesting system that provides autonomous electrical power to vehicles on which the system is installed, and/or to electrically-powered devices in those vehicles. Color-matched, image-matched and/or texture-matched optical layers, which provide an essentially same appearance from any viewing angle, and provide superior light transmission across the range of light impingement angles, are formed over energy harvesting components, including photovoltaic components.
2. Related Art
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/006,143 (the 143 application), entitled “Systems and Methods for Producing Laminates, Layers and Coatings Including Elements for Scattering and Passing Selective Wavelengths of Electromagnetic Energy,” and Ser. No. 15/006,145 (the 145 application), entitled “Systems and Methods for Producing Objects Incorporating Selective Electromagnetic Energy Scattering Layers, Laminates and Coatings,” each of which was filed on Jan. 26, 2016 and the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entirety, describe a structure for forming selectably energy transmissive layers and certain real world use cases in which those layers may be particularly advantageously employed.
The 143 and 145 applications note that, in recent years, the fields of energy harvesting and ambient energy collection have gained significantly increased interest. Photovoltaic (PV) cell layers and other photocell layers, including thin film PV-type (TFPV) material layers, are advantageously employed on outer surfaces of particular structures to convert ambient light to electricity.
Significant drawbacks to wider proliferation of photocells used in a number of potentially beneficial operating or employment scenarios are that the installations, in many instances, unacceptably adversely affect the aesthetics of the structure, object or host substrate surface on which the PV layers are mounted for use. PV layers typically must be generally visible, and the visual appearance of the PV layers themselves cannot be significantly altered from the comparatively dark greyscale to black presentations provided by the facial surfaces without rendering the layers significantly less efficient, substantially degrading their operation. Presence of photocells and PV layers in most installations is, therefore, easily visually distinguishable, often in an unacceptably distracting, or appearance degrading, manner. Based on these drawbacks and/or limitations, inclusion of photocell arrays, and even sophisticated TFPV material layers, is often avoided in many installations, or in association with many structures, objects or products that may otherwise benefit from the electrical energy harvesting capacity provided by these layers. PV layer installations are often shunned as unacceptable visual detractors or distractors adversely affecting the appearance or ornamental design of the structures, objects or products.
The last several decades have seen an expansive proliferation in all manner of self powered (read “battery-powered”) devices. Developmental efforts are particularly evident in the introduction and commercialization of advanced electric vehicles, and particularly electric passenger vehicles by many of the major automotive manufacturers worldwide.
The original electric passenger vehicles had very limited range based predominantly on limited battery size and first-generation efficiency in those batteries. Developments in battery technology have extended these ranges to some degree. A challenge remains with respect to extending usable ranges for the electric vehicles even further. This challenge is particularly acute in areas in which infrastructure development, particularly with respect to the emplacement, and identification of locations, of electric vehicle charging stations have failed to keep pace with the commercialization of the electric vehicles themselves.
The comparatively limited ranges of electric vehicles, and the limited accessibility to remote charging stations, has limited advancement in the field of electric vehicles based in part on a phenomenon commonly referred to as “range anxiety.” Concern over limiting one's driving habits based on an ability to access a known power source to recharge the electric vehicle has tended to serve as a detractor to broader commercialization of electric vehicle technology.
Separately in virtually all vehicles, a power drain on the installed electrical generation and storage systems in vehicles has increased rapidly and substantially. This power drain has increased as the numbers and types of separately electrically-powered devices, provided for driver and/or passenger safety and/or convenience in all manner of vehicles, including electric vehicles, have increased.